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Conlon quotes both sides, but they’re just pushing their beliefs or unbeliefs. No one’s looking for evidence wherever it leads — the only person I know of who does that is NYU’s Thomas Nagel. He cemented his status as my favorite philosopher with a sophisticated takedown of Dawkins in the New Republic (subscription only; text also available here).
Having laid out the rules of the match, Nagel finds that the God hypothesis loses round one, since “the theory of evolution through heritable variation and natural selection” explains how intricate designs such as the eye can come about naturally, and hence these designs no longer provide evidence for the God hypothesis.
Unfortunately, the fate of honest inquirers like Nagel is to be selectively quoted and used by religionists like Stephen Barr at First Things — or, worse, evolution deniers — to prop up their dogma. George Orwell, call your office.
